And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. Mark 3:13-15

OBSERVATION
I keep coming back to this passage of Scripture when I begin to feel like being a Christian is becoming too much of rules and regulations. Here Jesus calls His disciples to merely “be with Him”.

It’s like Jesus was saying, “listen guys, I really don’t have a huge agenda to start a world religion, or to simply “use you”. Right off the bat I want to let you know that I want to hang with you and get to know you, and I want you to get to know me.”

Jesus said in John 14 that if we have seen Him we have really seen the Father. And this is what God is really like. The number #1 agenda is the eternal God wanting to spend time with us. The flip-side is true as well… as disciples of Jesus our #1 priority ought to want to spend time with Jesus.

APPLICATION
When I think of my #1 priority I tend to think of taking care of my wife, my son, [and certainly these are in order], but are they really? Could it be that life get out of whack when I get priorities out of order? I might be criticized by some, but I believe that true disciples of Jesus are to make Him their #1 priority and that as we do – everything else will fall into place. Marriages will be preserved. Our children won’t be neglected. Stress will diminish. Financial worries won’t intimidate us, and perhaps there won’t be as many gray hairs.

PRAYER “Lord, I come to You today desiring to make you my #1 priority. Let everything else take 2nd place, because if I crown You as Lord of all You will take care of the rest. Today I worship you and believe you are making subtle changes in my life that will launch me into this New Year with supernatural strength. I thank You for it, In Jesus’ Name. Amen”.